ASIA

“We are over the moon in my country at the moment. It’s boom, time, but where is the money for radio?” asked Abe Thomas at Radiodays Asia.With India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft recently completing a successful landing on the Moon’s south pole, the country is on a high as it joins the space race. Big FM’s CEO Abe Thomas wants to see India’s radio and audio industries capitalising more on the buoyant mood in his country.“Radio revenue is growing but is not maintaining its relative share in competition with other media. We need to win today’s race, while also running tomorrow’s race.”

Attention is the new currency, according to Thomas.“Brands want to be at the centre of consumer engagement. Brands want to sit in the intersection of content, community and commerce.”With this in mind his network is “maintaining our revenue core, but also expanding to other revenue sources.” He is building up revenue from podcasts and other audio offerings while still focusing on existing broadcast radio revenue.Attention: “Attention is the new currency… brands want to sit on the intersection of content, community and commerce. “We are unlocking multiple revenue streams, either breakthrough in our traditional zones, or breaking out of the traditional broadcast revenue space and breaking through to new areas.”

Abe Thomas’ 4 main radio brands deliver about 80% of the company’s revenue, to get growth he is extending into new audience and advertiser segments such as:
Brand Solutions
Gamification of popular topics such as singing and cricket
Marketing Solutions for advertisers
Creative Intellectual Property that we can licence and monetise
Audience Cohorts that go beyond radio such as events
Podcasts on specialist monetizable topics such as cooking, medicine, truckers and motor dealers.
Podcasts: India is the third largest consumer of podcasts in the world, but Thomas wants to see revenue growth keeping up with listenership growth.“We are working hard to monetise this new form of audio. Talent in our 58 cities are keen to create content… we identify their opportunities and create branded podcasts for clients, then amplify them through radio. “We have created over 200 podcasts so far. All brands are looking for cohorts… we are becoming a client solution business to solve those client problems and I believe we will be able to expend out new revenue opportunities.” […]

Media Prima Audio CEO Nazri Noran shared insights into the power of disruption in his presentation at RadioDays Asia.Radio has faced many challenges and continues to do so as new technologies try to put it out of business, but radio continues to adapt.“The pandemic was the biggest challenge recently. Isolation, working from home, the rise of delivery services, content creators grew like mushrooms to entertain themselves, and the question was raised if people were still listening to radio… Radio is still alive because we have the ability to adapt and be hyper-local.”

Noran pointed out that music is “no longer the denominator for radio,” saying the future success of radio lies in “seizing the moment in big events, topical content and trendspotting.”The company has five broadcast brands – Hot FM, Kool 101, Molek FM, Fly FM and 8FM, plus Audio+, an app that supports all five radio stations, podcasts and other engaging content.He gave three examples of how his stations are seizing the moment, trendspotting and embracing topical content.When the smash hit girl group Black Pink came to Malaysia, the station jumped on the hype with welcome billboards, a mapped arrival route for fans, pink drinks, activations and concert sponsorship. “We took ownership of the event which grew engagement and audience for Fly FM.”Fly FM has also introduced the first Malaysian A.I. DJ. While the announcer is artificial, the program that she presents is fully produced by a team of real people behind the A.I DJ to gain good publicity while still broadcasting a quality program using a combination of live and artificial content.

The third example was grabbing the “sassy political heart-throb figure” KJ, a former Cabinet Minister with a huge following and turning him into a radio icon. When the station put him on air “socials blew up, it got huge attention to our brand.”The former Health Minister KJ was sacked from the government in January this year. When he was offered a radio shift, suddenly everyone was tuning in and everyone became aware of Hot FM. “This is the power of disruption,” said Noran.Photo: Media Prima on air teams […]

Imagine all the songs disappearing from your playout system before your very eyes while you are on air.This was the situation for one of RCS’ clients a few years ago when the radio station was hacked.It prompted RCS to invent a cloud based backup and recovery system for its clients so that they could stay on air, even if their computer infrastructure was compromised, then recover quickly once systems were restored.

At Radiodays Asia, RCS President and CEO Philippe Generali described the system that protects stations from natural disasters, hackers and viruses taking down IT infrastructure.RCS Disaster Recovery is a safety net that gets broadcasters back on-air, easily, efficiently and quickly.It runs in the background, sending all of a station’s audio, metadata, schedules and SQL backups to the cloud, allowing real time backup playout and giving stations time to recover. Voicetracks can be done remotely during the disaster phase and, when the station’s own systems are restored then all the old logs and whatever was played during the local outage can all be put back to the station’s own systems.“With the cloud, your station can stay on air and fix its systems… It’s better than having a redundant hardware system on site, which can also be infected during a hack,” he told Radiodays conference delegates.

Disclosure: RCA is a radioinfo advertiser. […]

Pioneering streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys will demonstrate a new metadata workflow with Xperi (NYSE: XPER) at IBC that will help radio broadcasters publish rich visual content alongside their online audio streams. The demonstration will prove how broadcasters are assured consistency across their terrestrial and streaming platforms through the reliable integration of AIM Rapid and SGplayer, StreamGuys’ HTML5 solution for consumer playback and content navigation. Both solutions support reliable metadata throughput and delivery to multiple consumer platforms.AIM Rapid delivers visual content, notably album art, to radio stations alongside music track details, enhanced show information, news alerts and more. It can do so for FM, DAB+, and HD Radio™ delivery systems, as well as connected cars, websites and mobile platforms. Working with StreamGuys will ensure that the same album artwork is used across all delivery platforms, including websites and mobile platforms using SGplayer. StreamGuys’ SGmetadata service for metadata management enables reliable handoff between the middleware (AIM Rapid) and playout (SGplayer, mobile app) workflow elements.“Xperi has provided metadata solutions to broadcasters for more than 16 years,” said Chris Gould, vice president for All in Media, the Xperi division that manages AIM Rapid. “We have a wealth of experience building middleware that is reliable, simple to use, and can also interface with a wide range of third-party systems such as SGplayer from StreamGuys. The interoperability between AIM Rapid and SGplayer ultimately means that the online audio consumer enjoys a richer experience with track metadata and artwork approved and delivered from the broadcaster, who will no longer worry about a lack of consistency across different audiences. Working with StreamGuys, we have made the process of delivering rich visual content to online platforms as simple and reliable as possible.”

Eduardo Martinez, Vice President of Technology for StreamGuys, explains that the workflow originates within the playout automation system, which feeds Xperi Rapid. The Rapid middleware grabs additional metadata related to the track from Xperi’s TiVo® music library, including album art, and feeds the streaming encoder. The SGmetadata service then pulls and converts the standards-based metadata for translation to SGplayer and mobile apps, which display the album art and other visual content alongside track information for the consumer.“This is an intelligent and interoperable metadata workflow that solves a very common problem for the broadcaster,” said Martinez. “Many broadcasters have immense song libraries with incomplete metadata, and Rapid intuitively steps in to provide that missing metadata as needed. Interoperability with SGmetadata extends these capabilities to the broadcaster’s online audio streams, ensuring reliable transport through the CDN ecosystem and to the output for presentation on SGplayer. Working close with the Xperi team, we developed, tested and confirmed a solution within one week that is simple to setup, quick to deploy and consistent in service.”StreamGuys will demonstrate the interoperable workflow between AIM Rapid, SGmetadata and SGplayer at the ENCO stand (8.C73), where StreamGuys is an official IBC co-exhibitor. IBC begins Friday and runs through Monday, September 18. […]

GatesAir, a Thomson Broadcast subsidiary dedicated to wireless content delivery, will bring its timing and signal reference solution for broadcast and telecom facilities to IBC for the first time this week. The GatesAir Maxiva GNSS-PTP is a standalone 1RU solution with a sophisticated switching algorithm that assures high-precision 10MHz and 1 PPS reference signals to mission-critical components in the signal chain, including transmitters, networking, and studio equipment. Internationally, the Maxiva GNSS-PTP brings strong value to national broadcast and network operators operating headends with multiple transmitters, for example. GatesAir exhibits at Stand 8.C82.The Maxiva GNSS-PTP speaks to modern navigation technologies used in second-generation Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and supports all major global satellite constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS). Each GNSS-PTP device feeds up to twelve 10 MHz and 1 PPS references in the technology infrastructure, removing the need to integrate a standalone timing source in each component. This substantially reduces equipment costs and installation timelines while providing a single, yet highly redundant, point of failure for engineers.Precise timing and frequency generation is assured because of the GNSS-PTP’s high level of redundancy. The product design includes redundant AC power supplies with built-in battery back-up for “always-on” protection. Diverse timing sources include redundant GNSS receivers, which incorporate OCXO temperature control to prevent frequency changes. Timing sources also include a PTP hardware module and an external 10 MHz and 1 PPS reference. Built-in switching control logic ensures reliability and flexibility for always selecting the highest priority source as a reference.

Support for the Precision Time Protocol v2 (PTP) adds further reliability and flexibility for customers. Available as a modular option, users can prioritize PTP as a facility’s primary source, or configure PTP as a backup to one of the GNSS receivers. The PTP module can function as a master or slave and, same as the unit’s GNSS receivers, provide reliable timing and frequency reference to 12 external devices.GatesAir has further simplified the user experience with an integrated web interface that allows users to select frequency bands easily and flexibly for each GNSS system, and configure timing source selection in automatic and manual modes. The user interface also offers useful visual aids, including detailed tracking maps and tables, satellite status and signal quality.“GatesAir has strong experience in the area of timing and synchronization for video, audio and telecom networks with our Intraplex SynchroCast solutions, including the single-frequency networks that our customers are increasingly deploying for FM radio and digital TV delivery,” said Keyur Parikh, Vice President of Engineering, GatesAir. “The Maxiva GNSS-PTP represents a new era in timing reliability, network redundancy and cost reduction for GatesAir and giving our customers a proven and reliable solution that will work in any broadcast studio, RF plant and telco facility worldwide.” […]

ENCO has placed a stronger emphasis on technology development for the future of radio broadcasting and production as the company heads to Amsterdam for IBC next week. The broadcast automation pioneer will introduce its ENCO-GPT AI solution for ad copy generation to international audiences following a successful NAB launch and will showcase its now-shipping WebDAD 3.0 for remote broadcast and production in the cloud. ENCO exhibits at Stand 8.C73.“ENCO has been focused on streamlining operations for broadcasters,” said Ken Frommert, President of ENCO. “In 2023, that means taking advantage of how on-premises systems can merge with the cloud to manage operations from anywhere and embracing AI toolsets in ways that intelligently enhance workflows and accelerate content to air. AI and the cloud will be the two most prominent topics on the exhibit floor, and ENCO has proven solutions in both areas that can help broadcasters thrive in a changing business environment.”WebDAD 3.0

Now shipping, WebDAD 3.0 is ENCO’s browser-based, remote radio automation control interface. A completely revamped architecture, designed to improve the user experience while laying the foundation for future functionality, was unveiled at NAB and will be shown to IBC audiences for the first time.WebDAD 3.0 lets users remotely manage and control studio-based ENCO DAD radio automation systems from anywhere with an internet connection. Supporting remote access for everything from uploading content and modifying playlists to voice tracking, WebDAD 3.0 lets users efficiently manage their operations and keep their station on-air even when personnel can’t be physically in the studio.New for IBC, ENCO has made control of the automation system the focus. The latest version of WebDAD offers bidirectional control of playback machines and array panels with improved progression tracking to control playout of on-air content. ENCO has also added a new library editor and FastTRAK one-button voice tracking for simplifying remote talent tasks.The most visible WebDAD 3.0 change is the modernized redesign of its browser-based user interface for more intuitive operation and to streamline workflows for key features. Security is bolstered with more granular control over user permissions, while support for third-party accessibility assistance tools improves usability for people with impairments or disabilities.ENCO-GPT

ENCO’s two new AI innovations, AITrack and ENCO-GPT, leverage generative AI models to generate audio content and automate voice tracking and commercial creation for TV and radio workflows. The latest ENCO-GPT solution, powered by AI, creates spec spots and commercials on demand to greatly simplify radio production.ENCO-GPT shines by helping users to instantly create ad and promotion copy on behalf of sponsors, alleviating the time, energy, and costs spent with traditional methods. An intuitively designed web interface allows users to run ENCO-GPT from anywhere with an internet connection, including mobile browsers.The workflow is simple: The user first answers a few questions to generate copy for a 15, 30 or 60-second ad. A text window presents the copy, which users can manually edit or re-generate. Next, the user selects the most appropriate voice from several male or female voice options available. ENCO-GPT then allows the user to add the right music bed for the spot before downloading the final down-mixed audio file.“It’s really that simple,” said Frommert. “Spec ads can be downloaded from ENCO-GPT and sent to the client almost immediately. The user interface is simple enough for users of any skill level to learn quickly, with intuitive prompts that guide users through the process. It is quick to deploy and very affordable, so the return on investment is almost immediate.”Visitors to the ENCO booth can quickly step through the ENCO-GPT workflow and see a demonstration of using WebDAD 3.0 for cloud-based production. IBC takes place September 15-18 at Amsterdam RAI. […]